US State Senator Hails Iran's Key Role in Fighting Terrorism in Region

"Western media has accused Iran of certain 'malign activities' in Syria. I see nothing malign in what Iran has done in Syria. Iran’s principal actions in Syria were effectively fighting ISIS and al Qaeda. But this has not pleased the US since it has interfered with our plans to topple the Syrian government," US Republican Sen. Richard H. Black, of Virginia, told Tasnim. 

He added, "From the beginning of the Syrian War, many Americans have been concerned that the war was not a domestic uprising. Instead, it was an attempt to overthrow Syria, using Wahhabi terrorists, including al Qaeda. This is ironic because the United States was attacked by al Qaeda during the infamous attacks on the Pentagon and Twin Towers, which killed 3000 American citizens". 

In 2018, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, claimed that the White House was deeply concerned by Iran’s “destabilizing and malign activities” in the region.

"General Wesley Clark, the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, explained how plans were laid to overthrow seven countries in the Middle East during the five-year period following the 9-11 attacks in 2001. Although the time schedule has not been met, our military actions have followed those plans with disturbing regularity," Black said. 

The American senator further said, "Among the counties targeted, were Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Iran. Although President Obama’s foreign policy record was extremely violent and militaristic, he appeared intent on stopping the incessant march toward war when he finalized the Iran Nuclear Agreement. However, when that agreement was renounced by the (Trump) Administration, the march toward war seemed to resume".

"Fortunately, however, the American people are showing signs of weariness with wars in the Middle East, which have dragged on for 18-years without the slightest benefit to America. These wars have increased the US national debt by one-third; they have left thousands of American soldiers dead or amputees; they have killed at least one-million people in the Middle East, and they have left a number of countries in those nations in ruins and poverty".

He further warned against CIA's long record in launching false flag attacks across the world, and said, "The CIA has a long history of employing false flag attacks as pretexts for military action against other nations. In Iraq, for example, Secretary of State Collin Powell addressed the United Nations, waving a test tube of simulated Sarin gas, falsely claiming that Iraq had such gas and intended to use it. This, and other statements were employed by the CIA to deceive the American people and people of other nations into launching a war of aggression that had no justification whatsoever. Such false flag strategies are deeply embedded within the National Clandestine Service of the CIA and within other elements of the government."

Elsewhere in the interview, Senator Black referred to Washington's decision to deploy a carrier group to the Middle East, and said, "The USS Abraham Lincoln was already on a routine deployment to the Persian Gulf. The only unusual moves by U.S. military forces is the possible movement of several B-52 bombers into the region".

He added, "The extreme rhetoric about military movements is tied to vague claims of Iranian threats towards American interests in the region. Since the source of these “intelligence reports” appears to be the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad".